How to Design Retargeting and Remarketing Ads That Work

We know the game all too well. You shop online and look at a few tempting purchases but leave without actually purchasing. The shoes you looked at are still on your mind a few days later while you’re working to find some materials for a home project, suddenly there they are – the shoes. You couldn’t stop thinking about them and then they magically reappear. This time there is an offer for free shipping below the image. So you click, use the free shipping code, and then buy. Well done, eCommerce retailer. You win again.

As much as we would like to think it’s magic making those ads appear, as digital marketers we know it is more complex than that. We know retargeting and remarketing ads are far more cost-effective for conversions than other digital display ads. But how can we ensure that our ads are designed for the highest number of conversions? It all comes down to the customer’s need, whether that comes out in the overall design or a with a specific call-out. Below are five key tips to designing your retargeting and remarketing ads to stand out from the crowd.

Give Them Pretty & Professional Designs

This Expedia remarketing ad is a great example of both pretty and professional. Clear call-to-action with the download button on top of a graphic that jumps out to the user. It is sure to set their brain into vacation mode.

Use the Products That They Showed Interest In

Remarketing to users who have visited your website is a great start, but go the next step further and show them something more specific they were interested in. For example, ESPN is remarketing to past Fantasy Football users throughout their website as well as partner websites in the example ad. As a result, I saw the following ad on my screen:

Bonus points: they knew that I came in third place in my league last year. Thanks for the reminder. Not only are they showing me the product I’m interested in, they are playing into my emotions of wanting to do better this year!

Sweeten The Deal with an Offer

Are your users shopping around your site but not completing the transactions you were hoping for? An easy fix is to add offers to your retargeting and remarketing ads. In this Visa example below, we have the important offer text in bold with a pretty and professional product image and a clear call-to-action. Showing this discount to the user could mean the difference between a missed transaction and a new purchase.

Give Them A Sense Of Urgency

The amount of retargeting and remarketing ads we see on a daily bases can be overwhelming. So many ads are shown online that your message can sometimes get lost in the crowd. Certain visuals can catch a user’s attention and make your ad stand out as more urgent than any of the other offers they’re being shown.

In this J. Crew example, the text and the large clock instantly tell you that the sale is ending soon. When shoppers know that the a sale is on for a limited amount of time, clickthrough rates usually receive a considerable bump.

Use Your Ads as A Reminder

Like the magical shoe ad, your retargeting and remarketing ads should be as specific as possible to what the shopper was looking at, or what they left in their cart. Nothing is more sad than items left in the cart, or a checkout process abandoned midway. You can use items and images to your advantage, and use an offer like free shipping if all of that doesn’t seem like enough. In the example below, I was shown two dresses I had abandoned a few days prior. Now, they’re giving me the incentives of free shipping and free returns.